Machine for treating hides, skins, and leather



H. A. HOLDER.

MACHINE FOR TREATING HIDES, SKINS, AND LEATHER. APPLTCATION FILED MAR.28, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

Ill Tl ll NIH ll l Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

H. A. HOLDER. MACHiNE FOR TREATING HIDES, SKINS, AND LEATHER. APPUCATION FILED MAR\28, I918.

1,3?3A269 Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

Wu HWWG 2.

2 SHEETS-SHEET'2- HENRY A. HOLDER, OF LYNN, ll'ZAS SACI-IUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR- TREA'IING HIDES, SKINS, AND LEATHER.

" i sea lee.

Application filed March 28, 1918.

all whom it may concern t is known that l, HENRY ll. Honnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing in Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve ment inlllachines for Treating Hides, Skins, and Leather, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters. on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a machine for treating hides, skins and leather and particularly for putting out, stretching and softening the same. 7

The invention has for its object to provide a machine of the character described, with whichthe hide, skin or leather may be put out, and stretched in a superior manner and the water contained therein may be most effectively removed.

To this end, the machine is provided with a working member or tool having lades or vanes which are inclined in opposite direc tions from a plane transversely of the working member, and which blades or vanes are. provided in theiredges or working surfaces between the ends ofsaid blades or vanes with a plurality of auxiliary working edges which are extended at an angle to the length of the blades or vane, and which cooperate with the blade or vane to effect a two-fold ateral working of the leather, the action of the blade or vane as a whole being in the nature of a continuous or prolonged action, and that of the auxiliary working edges. being of a series of short actions or strokes which are performed simultaneously with the continuous action.

The invent-ion is particularly applicable to machines of that type in which the hide, skin or leather hereinafter termed leather is subjected to the action of interlockin blades or vanes, such for instance as shown in ll. S. Patent No. 975628granted Nov. 15, 1910, to Gordon McKeen, because the substantially short inclined working edges on a plurality of blades or vanes cooperate to progressively put out and stretch the leather laterally before and whilethe latteris being subjected to the kneading or softening action of the interlocking blades or vanes, whereby not only is the leather softened and a greater spread or stretch and a supe ior. working out of the shanks. flanks and edges effected, but also the water in the leather is more effectively removed and a superior leather ob- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1221. Serial No. 225,266. 2

tained; These and other features of this inventionwill be pointed out in the claims at the end of" this specificationf Figure 1 is a front elevation of one form or construction of machine embodying the invention.

Fig. 2, a vertical transverse section on the line 2-2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3, a detail of one of the bladed rolls shown in Fig. 1, provided with the slots or grooves in the working edges or outer surfaces of its blades, and

Fig. 4, a detail in section on the line l-4l, Fig. 1 to show the gearing for rotating the bladed rolls shown in Fig. l. i

Referring to the drawing a, Z), represents two working members in the form of rolls having blades or vanes 10, 12, helically arranged about the circumference of the rolls and extended in opposite'directions from. a plane transversely of the rolls in a manner well understood, and said rolls are also arranged withrelation to each other in, the machine herein shownso that the blades or vanes, 10, 12, thereof interlock after the main ner represented in Fig. 2. In accordance with the present invention, one and if desired both rolls a, b, may have their blades or vanes 10, 12, orovided in their outer or working surfaces which engage the leather 13, with substantially narrow slots or grooves 14, see Fig. 8, which are extended across the outer surface of said blades or vanesat an angle to the length of said surface, and said grooves or slots extended in opposite directions from a plane transversely through the roll at a point between its ends. prefer-ably at or near the middle thereof,

after the manner clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The/walls of the slots or grooves 14: forin auxiliary working edges for laterally working out the leather 13, and materially assist the main or substantially continuous work ing edges of the helically arrangedblades or vanes in laterally putting out, and stretching the leather, which feature enables the blades.

or vanes of the working rolls to be made thick or thln as desired. In the present in stance, the blades or vanes 10 of the roll. av

- stantially large number of the inclined slots or, grooves 14, whose walls form laterally working edges in or on the outer surface of the said blades between the ends thereof, so that when the hide, skin or leather is drawn over one or more of the blades 10, it is worked out laterally in a most effective manner.

Provision is made for simultaneously engaging the leather 13 with a plurality of the blades 10, so that it can be subjected to a progressive action of the lateral working edges on the surfaces of a plurality of the blades 10. before the leather is subjected. to the kneading or softening action of the interlocking blades of the two rolls a, 5.

in the present instance I have shown one way in which the leather may be presented to the action of the lateral working edges of a plurality of the blades 10. To this end, the roll a has cooperating with it a device which may be termed a presser 15 which engages the leather 13 and presses it around or against a plurality of the blades or vanes 10, so that the working edges of the slots or grooves 14 in the outer surfaces of said blades or vanes may work out the leather laterally and thereby render it smooth and free from wrinkles before this portion of the.

leather is presented to the action of the interlocking blades of the rolls a, b.

The presscr 15 may be of any suitable con struction and in the present instance is shown as a bar having a eoncaved face 16 of a curvature having the same'center as the roll a. and said bar is carried by levers 17 pivotally mounted in brackets 18 attached to the frame work of the machine. The presser 15 is thus capable of being moved from its operative position shown in Fig 2, down into an open or inoperative position substantially at right angles thereto, in which latter position, it does not interfere with the leather when the latter is placed in the machine.

The presser 15 may be raised and lowered manually or automatically, and in the present instance, it is shown as automatically operated from a shaft 20, which is provided with eccentrics 21 acting on eccentric straps 22 connected by rods 23 with the levers 17, in a manner well understood.

The leather 13 is fed out of the machine by suitable feed rolls 24, 25, common to machines of this character, and in the present instance one feed roll as 24 is journaled in the frame of the machine and the other 25 in arms 26 attached to levers 27 which carry the bladed roll a. The levers 27 are loosely mounted on a shaft 28 supported by the frame of the machine and are operatively connected by links 29 with cranks 30, on the shaft 20, which latter is intermittently rotated from a main shaft 31 by a gear 32 fast on the shaft 20 meshing with a pinion 33 loose on the main shaft and adapted to be rendered fast thereon by a clutch cone 34,

slidable on the main shaft 31 into and out of contact with a clutch lever 37 to operate the clutch 38 which makes the pinion 33 fast on the main shaft. The clutch cone 34 is operated by a foot treadle 40, whose pivot or rock shaft 41 is provided with a forked arm 42 to engage the clutch cone, and the latter is returned to its starting position by a spring 43. The rock shaft 41 is further provided with a second arm 44 having a projection 45 to enter either of two substantially diametrically opposite slots or notches 46, 47, in a disk 48 fast on the shaft 20, to arrest rotation of the shaft 20 when the bladed roll a is in its operative position shown in Fig. 2 or is in its inoperative or open position removed from the bladed roll 5. hen the projection 45 enters either of the slots 46, 47, the clutch cone 34 is in its inoperative position and the pinion 33 is loose on the shaft 31, and when the treadle is depressed to throwin the clutch cone, the projection 45 bears against the face of the disk 48 and holds the clutch cone 34in its operative position.

In the present instance, the bladed rolls a, I), are driven from the main shaft 31, by a sprocket wheel ()0, link chain 51 and sprocket wheel 52 on the shaft 23 on which the levers 27 are loosely mounted and which is provided with a gear 53, which drives a gear 54 on the shaft of the bladed roll a, through an intermediate gear 55 carried by the lever 27, and the gear 54, in the operative position .of the bed roll a meshes with a pinion 5-3 on the shaft ofthe bladed roll Z) see Fig. 4. The bladed rolls are thus rotated in unison which is not disturbed by movement of the bladed roll a away'from the bladed roll 7), as in such movement the pinion 55 rolls around the gear 53 with the shaft 23 as a center.

The rotation of the bladed rolls a, b, is controlled by a clutch member57 slidable on the main shaft 31 and cooperating with a clutch member 58 attached to the sprocket wheel 50, and the clutch member 57 is controlled by a knock-off arm 59 forming part of the crank 30 see dotted lines,Fig. 2 and cooperating with dogs 60,61 on a rock shaft 62 in the manner fully described in U. S. Patent No. 873790 dated Dec. 17, 1907, to which reference may be had.

The operation of the machine herein shown may be briefly described as follows: When the machine is idle, the bladed roll a and the feed roll 25 are removed from the bladed roll I) and the feed roll 24, and the presser 15 is in its lowered position, which leaves ample room for the operator to place the leather 13 over the feed roll 25 and bladed roll a so that substantially one half of the leather extends below the bladed roll. a. "The machine is now started by depressing the foot treadle 40, and the feed roll 25 and bladed roll a are moved into operative relation to the the feed; roll 24 and bladed roll 5, and the presser 15 is moved up toward the bladed roll a so as to engage the leather with a plurality of the blades or vanes 10 of the roll a, all substantially as shown in Fig. 2. The feed rolls 24, 25, are rotated in the proper direction to draw the hide or skin out of the machine as indicated by the arrow 70, Fig. 2, and the bladed rolls a, b, are rotated in the opposite direction as indicated by the arrows 71, 7 2.

It will be observed that the feed rolls 2%, 25, and thepresser 15 are located on opposite sides of the interlocking bladed rolls a, Z), and as a result 'theleather 13 between the same is firmly heldon opposite sides of the interlocking blades while the latter act on the hide or skin, and as a result a superior kneading of the hide or skin is effected and the latter is softened'in superior manner or to a maximum degree.

The substantially thick or wide blades 10 of the roll a form in the said roll grooves 73 between the blades 10 into which extend the thinner blades 12 of the roll 6, and as the said rolls rotate in unison the succeeding blades 12 of the roll I) force the leather into the succeeding grooves 73 in the roll a, and as the leather is firmly held on opposite sides of the interlocking blades, the movement of the leather into the groove 73 of the roll a by a blade 12 of the roll I) is resisted and consequently the leather is effectively kneaded and softened by the blade 12 as the latter forces the leather into the groove with which it ootiperates.

It will be observed, that whilethe leather is thusbeing softened by the interlocking blades, the portion of the leather which is to be softened is subjected to the action of the inclined working edges in the outer surfaces of preferably a plurality of blades 10 of the roll a as well as to the action of these blades or vanes, which results in a most effective smoothing out of any wrinkles in the leather and of the removal of the water before the leather is presented to the kneading action as well as the putting out action between the ends of the latter, thereby enabling the action of the machine to more.

nearly approach the hand operation of a skilled workman, who in practice usually takes a long stroke over the leather and then goes over this portion with a series of materially shorter strokes. I have. herein shown In the machine herein shown the feed roll I Qais positively driven from the main shaft by the link'chain 75.

' Claims 1. In a machine of the character described,

in combination, a pair of rotatable rolls hav ing helically arranged blades or vanes which interlock in the operative position of said rolls, one of said rolls having its blades or vanes provided at their outer or working surfaces and between the ends and sides thereof with working edges which extend transversely of said working surfaces at an angle to the lengthof the same.

2. In a machine-of the character described,

in combination, a rotatable work roll having substantlally thick blades or vanes helically arranged and forming helically arranged grooves between them, and provided on their outer surfaces and between the ends of said blades or vanes with slots which extend transversely of said blades or vanes at anangle to the length thereof and whose side walls form working edges on the outer surfaces of said blades or vanes, and a second rotatable roll having thinner blades or vanes helically arranged and cotiperating with the blades or vanes of the first mentioned roll to extend into said grooves and interlock with the thicker blades or vanes thereof.

3. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of rotatable rolls having helically. arranged blades or vanes which interlock in the operative position of said rolls, one of said rolls having its blades or vanes provided at their outer or working surfaces and between the ends thereof with working edges which extend transversely of said working surfaces at an angle to the length of the same, feed rolls located on one side of the interlocking bladed rolls, and a device located on the other side of said interlocking bladed rolls and having a surface of a curvature whose center is substantially that of the roll provided with the inclined working edges, said device codperating with the said inclined working edges to support the leather while it is being worked by said working edges.

4. A working roll for machines of the character described, having helically arranged blades or vanes provided with auxiliary working edges in the outer or working surfaces of said blades and between the ends thereof.

5. A tool for working leather having helically arranged blades or vanes capable of laterally spreading or putting out the.

leather and provided at their outer surfaces and between the ends and sides thereof with working edges which extend transversely of said outer surfaces at an angle to the length thereof.

6. A tool for working leather having a substantially long inclined blade or vane provided at its outer surface with a plu-. rality of slots inclined to the length of the said blade and forming auxiliary"working edges.

7. 'In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of rotatable rolls having helically arranged blades or vanes which interloclg-in the operative position of said rolls, one of said rolls having its blades or vanes provided at their outer or working surfaces and between theends thereof with workingedges which extend transversely of said working surfaces at an angle to the length of the same, feed rolls located on one side of the interlocking bladed rolls and a device located on the other side of said interlocking bladed rolls and cooperating with the roll whose blades are provided with the inclined working edges to support the leather while it is being worked by said inclined working edges.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my nine to this specification. HENRY A. HOLDER. 

